Bakri pleads for UK visa to escape bombs

Omar Bakri Mohammed, the founder of al-Ghurabaa, has begged to be allowed to return to Britain to escape the Israeli bombardment of Beirut.

The cleric says he was turned away from a Royal Navy vessel as he tried to board, and his pleas to the British embassy for a one-month visa have fallen on deaf ears. "They said 'sorry, the only people who will be in the boat are those who have British citizenship and those who've got British passports'," he said.

Mr Bakri, 48, has lived in the city with his elderly mother since his leave to remain in the UK was revoked by then home secretary Charles Clarke shortly after the 7/7 bombings, on the grounds that it was "not conducive to the public good".

He said he was unconcerned about his personal safety, but wished to leave the city because his wife and six children, aged seven to 28, who remain in Britain, were worried about him.

"I have never been granted British citizenship because of my political views," he said. "I do not want to return to the UK. All I want is that my children understand that their father tries to see them but I can't help it. Obviously I will keep trying but for now we are surviving. There is no electricity. The Lebanese are used to it, but to live in Lebanon is not easy for someone who was living in the UK for 22 years."

His wife Hanan Fostok, who lives in Edmonton, north London, was reported yesterday as saying: "If something terrible happened then Tony Blair would have blood on his hands."

The prime minister's official spokesman said: "He is the subject of an exclusion order and that will be implemented."